The Sanctity of Life

﻿Sanicty of life is the most important factor when considering euthanasia .Discuss A believer in the sanctity of life would argue that only God has the right to give or take life as he created all humans imago dei. If someone believed this, they would argue that under no circumstances does anyone have the right to take their life, or let anyone else take their life for them. Natural law accepts the sanctity of life argument, but would also reject euthanasia due to the primary precept (which is absolute therefore cannot be broken under any circumstances) “preserve innocent life”. For instance, even in the case of Dianne Pretty who had motor neuron disease and was facing a painful death, she would not have been allowed to die, despite saying “I want to have a quick death without suffering”. Both the sanctity of life thesis and the primary precepts would stop her being autonomous. Arguably some people would say that Quality of life the idea that people should be able to enjoy intellectual activities, is perhaps the most important issue when considering euthanasia. If someone has a high quality of life many would argue that they should not be allowed to die, even if they had explicitly asked to. Their quality of life would overrule their autonomy. Certainly Singer would argue that someone with a high quality of life, for instance someone with Alzheimer’s, would not have the right to die provided they can still enjoy higher pleasures such as reading or going to the theatre. If someone has a high quality of life, surely this has to be considered, for what is the point of someone who can still engage in everyday activities dying? However, perhaps someone’s quality of life is not as important as may initially appear. Perhaps what is more important is that they have the right to be autonomous. Kant would argue that everyone should be able to make their own autonomous decisions; doing something because society wants them to is not autonomous, and neither is doing something because God tells them to. Hence, both quality of life and sanctity of life arguments are rejected. People should be able to choose whether or not they are euthanatized, but it should be an entirely individual choice. Overall, the most important factor when considering euthanasia is the person’s wishes. If that person wants to die, no matter what condition they are suffering from (if any), then they should be able to prematurely terminate their life. Explain how Bentham’s utiltarianism can be used describe the right course of action. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory which judges the rightness or wrongness of an action on its utility/usefulness, which represents the amount of pleasure of happiness caused by an action. An action is right if and only if it produces the greatest good for the greatest number. Utilitarianism is a teleological theory, hence the act itself is not of any value, rather the consequences of the act are what needs to be considered. Bentham would apply the hedonic calculus to a situation. The hedonic calculus is a system whereby the maximum utility is achieved for any situation. However, this process is very time-consuming and perhaps it would be better to use, as Mill does, a series of utility-maximising rules. The hedonic calculus of Bentham takes into account the intensity of pleasure, duration of pleasure, certainty/uncertainty, the closeness or remoteness, the chance of repeating pleasure and the purity of the pleasure. For instance, something which causes immense pleasure for a very long time and is repeatable would be very favourable in Bentham’s view - for instance a long massage or a spa treatment. The hedonic calculus could be used to weight up the morality of euthanasia. If someone, such as Tony Bland (left in a PVS after Hillsborough), would receive greater pleasure than if he was forced to carry on living, then ending his life would be permissible. However, if more people in society would be unhappy than those left happy by...

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

...THE SANCTITY OF LIFE CONCEPT AND THE ABORTION CONTROVERSY
BY SAMUEL CHIBUZO ONYIBA
Introduction The question of abortion remains an issue that has generated and continues to steer ripples of ambivalence in our contemporary world. While most European countries have actually legalized abortion, Middle East countries where Islam prevails forbid it by law. Some countries allow it only in order to save the life of the pregnant woman. With these developments, a question comes to mind: why is there no consensus on the legal and moral status of abortion? Our task in this paper is to examine the moral issues surrounding the permissibility of abortion while upholding the conviction that human life is sacred and ought not be violated. Our point of departure shall be an explanation of the doctrine of the sanctity of human life. Thereafter, we shall examine the major arguments in the abortion dispute. At the end, we hope take a position that it consistent with right reason and conscientious judgment. 1.0 THE SANCTITY OF THE HUMAN LIFE CONCEPT Recent developments in bio-ethical issues such as cloning, embryo research, stem cells therapy, euthanasia and abortion have altogether engendered a reconsideration of the value of the human life both in philosophical, medical and theological circles. David P. Gushee’s definition aptly captures the doctrine of the...

...pointed at them and most are due to the generalization that the media has made portraying these parents as mean, self righteous, and abusive. The honest truth is that parents care for their children and are not pushy, but instead they direct their children in becoming good adults by protecting them, encouraging them, and being dedicated to them.
In his review of The Trouble With Perfect/The Successful Child/Positive Pushing (Book), Douglas C. Lord talks about the role of the parent. The role of the parent is to protect their children and provide for them all they can to insure that they have the proper tools in order to be successful in life. These tools include such things as having good morals, strong work ethics, phenomenal character, etc. Providing their kids with the mentioned tools, parents protect their kids from becoming failures in life and give them the option to make something of themselves, which far exceeds the expectations of their parents. Parents have to do these things in order to direct their kids. This is believed to be an “absolute moral imperative” (Lord). If your parents did not provide you with these tools, where would you be?
“Pageant moms are the worst,” is something that I heard once. This I have to say is false. The moms and dads of the performing art children have to be the most dedicated parents I personally have ever seen. These parents spend all of their time and energy helping their kids exceed and they...

...﻿Question 4: Select one of the three businesses in the feature, and conduct online research to
to better familiarize yourself with the business and its business model. Evaluate
the four separate components ( core strategy, strategic resources, partnership
network, and customer interface) of its business model and how the separate
components reinforce one another. On a scale 1 to 10, how strong of a business
model does the company have? Explain your answer.
The business we chose is Warby Parker. We have evaluated its business model in terms of four components, consisting of core strategy, strategic resources, partnership network, and customer interface and these are our findings.
A company’s core strategy refers to how a firm competes amidst of its competitors. A company’s mission statement, product or market scope and basis of differentiation play a huge role in order for a company to thrive in the business world. Warby Parker has a very promising mission; Eyewear with a purpose. “Almost one billion people worldwide lack access to glasses. This means that 15% of the global population cannot effectively learn or work - a problem that Warby Parker is determined to address. We've partnered with non-profits like VisionSpring to ensure that for every pair of glasses sold, a pair is distributed to someone in need.
We believe that everyone has the right to...

...Value of Life
A Synthesis Paper
Short Introduction
Life is something that so valuable that you can only live it once, not twice, not thrice but just once. “We are the ones who get to die when it’s time for us to die, so we should live the way we want to” This is one way of looking at life and how would you do it. Some people have different perspectives. Some say life is entirely a matter of faith; we cannot prove it. We believe what we want, we back up our beliefs with strong and meaningful reasons that struck other people’s mind that they will root for you and will be influence by what you believe in. You have your faith I have mine, take it or leave it. I sometimes think that life is much more that faith. But I still don’t have prior knowledge to believe in what I think. I’m still young and naïve about something’s in life that I have no knowledge about. But maybe someday I will understand all of the things I need to know through experience. We all have duties and responsibilities in our life and who are included in our life. I will make my way through this life first to understand by using my own quote “Just go with the flow” which entirely means to keep in track of what your experiencing and doing right now, the present and act how we are supposed to act. Act like people your own page. You shouldn’t understand and know everything right...

...﻿Assessment strategy
Presentation of a 500 word proposal outlining the design for a mini health promotion initiative in Week 7: (LO 1, 2, 3) 12/11/2013
The project proposal form below (to be submitted on or before 12/11/2013) helps us to provide formative feedback for you. It is not graded but informs the design of your PRESENTATION slides. Your PowerPoint presentation slides should therefore reflect the subtitles underlined in red in the proposal form (Appendix 2) below.
The PRESENTATION is in Week 9: 26/11/2013 and Week 10: 03/12/2013 (See details in Appendix 2)
• 2,500 word report on the implementation of the health promotion mini-project that includes reporting on the processes and application of health promotion principles in Week 19 (LO 1, 2, 3) – 18/02/2014
This report is based on the implementation of your health promotion intervention. See details in Appendix 3
• 2,000 word essay to debate key aspects of health policy including comparative views and its impact on population health outcomes in week 30 (LO 1, 4, 5) – 27/05/2014
This final essay is based on an analysis of a health care system outside the UK. Please see details in Appendix 4 (page 4).
Appendix 2
DESIGN AND PRESENTATION OF HEALTH PROMOTION PROPOSAL – WEIGHTING 10% (WEEK 9 & 10)
The project proposal form below helps us to provide formative feedback for you. It is not graded but informs the design of your PRESENTATION slides. Your PowerPoint presentation slides should...

...﻿I) Life: An overview of production
“The Earth is home to more than 30 million different animals and plants – every single one fighting to survive. […] the epic television series Life is the definitive exploration of our planet’s living things and their spectacular, bizarre and fascinating behaviors” (“A Landmark”, 2010). Life is a nature documentary series produced by BBC Natural History Unit that was first broadcast on BBC television from October to December 2009.
The production of Life series took four years to making with more than 3,000 days of filming in the field on all seven continents, and many of them are expeditions to remote widerness area (“Life”, 2010). Many new camera technologies are used in order to create ten 50-minute episodes such as time-lapse photography, high speed photography, underwater filming techniques, and gyroscopic stabilization. Besides these advanced technologies, the filmmakers also cooperated with a team of scientists in search for new discoveries and new approaches to familiar objects for this documentary serires, which is very important to the success of Life (“Life”, 2010).
The ten Life episodes includes:
1) “Challenges of Life” which gives an overview about the series with illustrations of extraordinary feeding and hunting behaviors of the animal kingdom.
2) “Reptiles and Amphibians” provides the details...

...family bond that no one could ever compare to in my eyes. Family is the most important aspect in the growth of a child. Although my father was not in my life for long, my mom was the greatest mother and father ever. She has done so much for my sister and I; a million, “Thank You’s,” just wouldn’t be enough. I hold such an attachment to my grandmother’s home because I grew up in her home. Many of my family members lived in her home at one point. I felt so safe. That home could take on all three of the little pigs and the big bad wolf and not a damn thing could blow her house down. My grandmother was the strongest person in our entire family. She lived a very rough life towards the end, but there was no fire big enough to put out her flame, she was a fighter and didn’t want let go even if it was the time to. My grandmother past away due to severe rheumatoid arthritis and once she was diagnosed with arthritis a lot of other problems accrued. Although she is gone, her heart and soul remains in her home, and her home will continue to be in our family forever. No dollar amount is big enough to buy all the greatness of her home.
A child learns so much from what their family does, and if one does not take part in their life, who else would they learn from? They begin to feel neglected which makes a child rebel. Playing a part in a child’s life will motivate them for their entire childhood lives. It will steer them into the...